World Water Day 2010: addressing water quality

23.01.2010 - Life on earth is based on water. And the quality of life directly depends on water quality.

Healthy ecosystems are sustained by good water quality, which leads to improved human well-being. On the contrary, poor water quality affects the environment and human well-being. Enough to mention waterborne diseases causing the death of more than 1.5 million children every year.
The quality of our water resources is more and more threatened by pollution. Human activity over the past 50 years is responsible for unprecedented contamination of water resources in history. More than 2.5 billion people globally live without adequate sanitation. Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and other effluents drain into the world’s waters. The problem is worse in developing countries where over 90% of raw sewage and 70% of untreated industrial wastes are dumped into surface waters.
If we bring climate change into the picture, then we need to factor in floods and droughts posing great challenges to water quality on top of the growing sources of pollution. how much are we aware of the fact that human population Increase, coupled with changing production and consumption patterns, have seen an upsurge of industrial processes, mining, agriculture, and urbanization resulting in the release of heavy metals, radioactive elements, organic toxins, and discarded pharmaceuticals into the environment. On the 22nd of March, as every year the world will celebrate World Water Day. UN-Water, together with UNEP will try to bring the world’s attention to the critical issue of water quality.